
•909 




hJ'^^F^W' 



140VEYS 
MetiedCnitde 

e*tf» 
'.CVfLKTlOH 
HClfTES 



fHICE, as CENTS 




Class Lil__ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK 



OF 



The Mammoth Gave 

OF KENTUCKY 



A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE 
REGULATION ROUTES 

With Maps and Illustrations 



BY 

HORACE CARTER HOVEY, D.D. 

F. G. S. A. 



Copyright, 1909, by John P. Morton & Company, Incorporated 



Louisville, Kentucky 

JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY 

Incorporated 

1909 







€C(,/ia53;j33 






KEY TO THE MAP 



1. 


The Iron Gate 


43. 


Scotchman's Trap 


2. 


Hutchins' Narrows 


44. 


Fat Man's Misery 


3. 


Kentucky Cliffs and the Corkscrew 


45. 


Bandit Hall 


4. 


The Church 


46. 


Brigg's Avenue 


5. 


Booth's Amphitheatre 


47. 


Charlet's Dome 


6. 


Standing Rocks 


48. 


Wyatt's Domes 


7. 


Grand Arch 


49. 


Balanced Rock 


8. 


Giant's Coffin and Dante's Gateway 


50. 


The Dead Sea 


9. 


Acute Angle and Cottages 


51. 


Charon's Cascade 


10. 


Proctor's Arcade 


D. 


Janin's Landing 


11. 


Wright's Rotunda 


52. 


Cascade Hall 


12. 


The Cataracts 


53. 


Serpent Hall 


13. 


Fairy Grotto 


54. 


Valley-Way Side-Cut 


14. 


St. Catherine City 


55. 


The Great Western 


15. 


Symmes' Pit 


56. 


Vale of Flowers 


16. 


Mummy's Niche 


57. 


The Jessup Domes 


17. 


Register Hall 


58. 


Ole Bull's Concert Hall 


18. 


The Bridal Altar 


59. 


Fly Chamber 


19. 


The Arm Chair 


60. 


Sheep Shelter 


20. 


Lover's Leap 


61. 


Corinne's Dome 


21. 


Elbow Crevice 


62. 


Black Hole of Calcutta 


22. 


Napoleon's Dome 


63. 


Parrish's Path 


23. 


Wilson's Way 


64. 


Crypt of Jewels 


24. 


Lake Purity 


65. 


Washington Hall 


25. 


Annette Dome 


66. 


Snow Ball Room 


26. 


Lee's Cisterns 


67. 


Floral Cross 


27. 


Wooden Bowl Room 


68. 


Orpha's Garden 


28. 


The Lost Way Found 


69. 


Wisdom's Path 


29. 


Way to Pits and Domes 


70. 


Paradise 


30. 


Side-Saddle Pit 


71. 


Zoe's Grotto 


31. 


Bottomless Pit 


72. 


Flora's Garden 


32. 


Covered Pit 


73. 


Vale of Diamonds 


33. 


Scylla 


74. 


Helen's Hall 


34. 


Charybdis 


75. 


Charlotte's Grotto 


35. 


Putnam's Cabinet 


76. 


Serena's Arbor 


36. 


Darnall's Way 


77. 


Dismal Hollow 


37. 


Ariadne's Grotto 


78. 


Clark's Avenue 


38. 


Short Cut from Bottomless Pit 


79. 


Harlan's Avenue 




to Gorin's Dome 


80. 


Nicholson's Avenue 


39. 


Reveller's Hall 


81. 


Boone Avenue 


40. 


Grand Crossing 


82. 


Pinson's Pass 


41. 


Pineapple Bush 


83. 


Hawkins' Way 


42. 


Angelica's Grotto 


84. 


Violet City 



PREFACE 

A PERSONAL WORD. I imbibed an early taste for the 
sciences from my father, the late Professor Edmund 
Otis Hovey, D. D., one of the founders of Wabash 
College, and a pioneer geologist in Indiana. My annual 
vacations, during a busy professional career spanning over fifty 
years, have largely been given to underground explorations. 

When fifteen years old I began cave-hunting amid the 
charming grottoes near Madison, Indiana. An enthusiastic 
comrade, six years my senior, then proposed that we visit the 
Mammoth Cave. For certain reasons, while he went on, I got 
no farther at that time than Louisville; where, however, I 
bought, at the bookstore of Morton and Griswold, a copy of 
"Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, by a Visitor." It was just 
out. It fired my boyish imagination, and it gave shape to 
much of my after life. 

More than four hundred books, pamphlets, scientific reports, 
and magazine articles have been published by different writers, 
besides innumerable newspaper contributions, about Kentucky's 
great cavern. Copies of most of these are in the author's 
library. 

Yet there is a demand, and there seems to be room, for such 
a practical, condensed, and up-to-date hand-book as is now 
offered. It does not claim to tell all that might be told; and 
it omits much material that might interest the historian or the 
scientist. Its design is to aid the average visitor as he follows 
the four regulation routes by which the Cave is ordinarily 
exhibited. 

Those who covet more abundant information as to places 
not often visited, or concerning the cavern fauna and flora, 
or as to details of local history, or as to Mammoth Cave bibliog- 
raphy, are referred to the larger Illustrated Manual of Mam- 



6 PREFACE 

moth Cave, by Hovey and Call, published by John P. Morton 
and Company, and for sale at the Cave. My still more com- 
prehensive work on "Celebrated American Caverns," now out 
of print, may be found on the shelves of most public libraries. 

The revised Guide Map (1907 and 1909) in this volume, 
and for sale (on a larger scale) at the Cave hotel, was made 
by me from an original partial survey, earlier charts being 
consulted, especially those by Stephen Bishop and Dr. C. R. 
Blackall, with a few corrections and additions suggested by 
Mr. Max Kaemper, to whom thanks are also due for important 
facts concerning his discoveries in 1908. The route-sketches 
found in this hand-book were redrawn from those made by him. 

Acknowledgments are likewise due to my son, Dr. E. O. 
Hovey, of New York City ; to my former comrade in cave-hunt- 
ing. Dr. R. Ellsworth Call; to Benj. F. Einbigler, Norman A. 
Parrish, and others, for valuable correspondence and memo- 
randa; to the late Mr. Ben Hains and Mr. H. ]\I. Pinson, 
photographers; to Mr. H. C. Ganter for use of copyrighted cuts; 
to the officials of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad for 
additional illustrative material, as well as for other courtesies 
and favors; and particularly to the trustees, managers, and 
guides of Mammoth Cave for heartily and generously facilitat- 
ing explorations in former and more recent years, without 
which this work would have been impossible. 

Finally, for information as to trains via the Louisville and 
Nashville Railroad and connections at Glasgow Junction with 
the Mammoth Cave Railroad ; for the arrival and departure 
of steamboats on Green River; for terms of Cave routes and 
guides, and for hotel rates by the day or the week, and for 
other details not within the scope of this hand-book, applica- 
tion may be made to the Mammoth Cave Manager, at Mam- 
moth Cave, Kentucky. Our simple aim is to aid and entertain 
the reader in his subterranean rambles. 

Horace C. Hovey. 

Newburyport, Mass. 



The Mammoth Gave 

OF KENTUCKY 

A Short Lesson in Geology and Chemistry 

MANY hurry to and through and away from Mammoth 
Cave; but let us go in a more leisurely manner. 
vSuppose we begin by a stroll amid the rounded hills 
that environ Cincinnati. We find their flanks full of 
corals, shells, crinoids, and other marine objects by myriads. 
These are fossils, yet perfect as if freshly cast up from the sea. 
But we observe that the limestone lies in thin, level layers, 
with no signs of volcanic or earthquake action. They were 
gently cut down by an undermining process that left no 
caverns, because the strata are so thin that they can not hold 
together. This is the same Lower Silurian formation that else- 
where made the famous " bluegrass region," causing Central 
Kentucky to be the fairest bit of the globe's surface known. 

Go by steamboat down the Ohio to Madison, Indiana, and 
the scenery changes with the geology. Near the river are 
still seen the thin blue limestone strata that we saw at Cin- 
cinnati, but capped by the marble heights of the Upper Silurian. 
Cascades from the cliffs wash out the thinner, softer material, 
making wide, shallow grottoes, each being, as a rule, at the 
head of a ravine, which is a cave in ruins. 

At the charming city of Louisville we encounter another 
geological change, and meet a striking proof that the region 
was once flooded by the ocean, namely, the grand old coral 
reef over which tumble the Falls of the Ohio. It used to 
bristle with branching corals like stag-horns and was strewn 
with tens of thousands of more delicate varieties, car-loads 
of which have since been carried away; but enough remain to 



8 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

show that all this country was uplifted by continental forces 
from a primeval sea. Probably its altitude was once above 
the present level, to which it has been reduced by causes some 
of which are still at work. 

Rambling through the valleys and examining their rocky 
beds, we find fissures no doubt caused by that continental 
uplifting to which we have referred. These cracks, or "joints," 
are visible over large areas, wherever the country rock is 
exposed. Usually they run at nearly right angles with one 
another, north and south lines crossing those from east to west. 
The joint-walls may closely fit, or have been parted to make 
channels by which falling rain might be drained. 

You have noticed that soda-water roughens and eats away 
the marble slab on which the soda-fountain rests. On asking 
the reason you are told that it is due to the carbonic acid gas 
(carbon dioxide) with which the water is charged. In nature 
this same gas is formed by the decay of animal and vegetable 
matter. Rainwater absorbs it from the atmosphere and while 
sinking through the loam and soil. It also takes up humous 
acids, which aid in the work of corrasion effected on reaching 
the limestone. Mechanical energy assists chemical action in 
slowly dissolving and removing the limestone particles. 

All limestone caves, great and small, were carved by this 
slow yet irresistible process. The downward flow follows the 
joints till a lateral "bedding-plane," or something else, turns 
the stream horizontally, when there results a widening of the 
passageway. Should the roof collapse there would be "a 
tumble-down" within and perhaps a "sink-hole" without. 
vShould the cave cut through from one bedding-plane to an- 
other, a series of galleries would result; the upper ones dry as 
tinder and the lower ones wet with water that finally reaches 
the drainage level, whence it emerges into some open valley. 

Occasionally the whirling water bores straight dovm through 
all galleries, making what is termed a pit, or a dome, according 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 9 

to the point of view. Standing pools deposit nitrous earth 
and various other mineral substances. Water trickling through 
the roof evaporates, each drop laying down its load of the 
bicarbonate of lime to create a stalactite; or a stalagmite if it 
first falls on the floor. A general and convenient term is 
"dripstone," masses of which are found at almost any crossing 
of the joint-planes. Should "fixed air " (carbon dioxide), which 
is fifteen times as heavy as the atmosphere, settle into the lower 
parts of any cave, it would make visiting dangerous or fatal. 
But air currents and other causes make every part of Mammoth 
Cave free from any except the sweetest, purest air ever inhaled. 

Approaching Mammoth Gave 

According to an authentic article in the Louisville Courier- 
Journal for September 29, 1901, the managers of Mammoth 
Cave, having occasion to examine the records at Bowling Green, 
found that cave designated as a corner of a section of land in 
1797; which antedates by some years the threadbare legend 
of Houchins and the wounded bear. 

During the saltpeter times, 18 12-18 16, elsewhere described, 
men came and went in carts or on horseback. Seventy years 
ago Dr. Davidson told the Transylvania University about 
visiting the "Green River country," so called in honor of General 
Nathaniel Green, the hero of Eutaw Springs — not for its 
emerald tint. He hired a barouche at Henderson and traversed 
a dozen counties to Mammoth Cave, which Dr. John Croghan 
had just purchased for $10,000, intending to "clear out the 
avenues and make them accessible for an omnibus to the 
distance of three or four miles, and erect a sort of hotel in 
the Temple" (the old name of the Chief City). 

Charmingly did Julius Benedict, sixty years ago, narrate 
the adventures of Jenny Lind and her party, as they went 
"by the very worst road in the United States, but amid most 



10 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

delightful forest scenery," from Nashville to Bowling Green, 
and thence to Bell's Tavern, that famous old hostelry. The 
rest of their journey lay along the edge of "jagged, abrupt 
glens, along sweeping meadows and budding woodlands," to 
the queer ol-d building where "Dr. Croghan did the honors of 
his subterranean dominions in the most agreeable manner." 

As recently as my own early visits a line of stage coaches 
ran from Cave City, owned by Andy McCoy and managed by 
Henry C. Ganter, who still entertains willing listeners at the 
Cave hotel by his racy stories of pioneer days. How grandly 
the bugle- flourish used to herald the coming stage-coach, and 
how everybody used to rush to greet the passengers, and how 
eagerly the negro servants cared for the luggage! Guests still 
come by carriage, on horseback, or by automobile; and many 
avail themselves of the steamboats plying on Green River, 
where a system of locks and dams has made it practicable to 
land within half a mile of the Cave entrance. No more delight- 
ful river-ride than this can be found in the Middle West, or 
more diversified by frowning cliffs, wild forests, opening 
amphitheatres that smile in summer with rustling fields of corn, 
with here and there attractive villages and flourishing cities. 

But the majority avail themselves of the Louisville and 
Nashville Railroad, connecting with the Mammoth Cave Short- 
line, whose terminus is near the Cave hotel. One enjoys the 
comforts of modern travel while passing by a magnificent 
panorama of hill, valley, and undulating plain. "Knobs" 
several hundred feet high, capped by the Chester sandstone, 
above the solid vSt. Louis limestone, appear as cones or pyra- 
mids, whose strata remain horizontal from base to apex. 
Amid the Knobs run stream-swept valleys. In level regions 
are fertile farms, though frequently the soil is iron-stained 
a fiery red. One could hardly find anywhere a more charming 
trip by rail than from Louisville to Glasgow Junction, or one 
more unique than from the latter station to Mammoth Cave. 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



11 




In Cave Costume 



12 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

Oval depressions abound, styled "sink-holes," because 
through them the surface water sinks out of sight. vSo numer- 
ous are they that one might traverse the cave-region on horse- 
back all day long and not cross an open stream ; all the rain- 
water being drained through them to underground gathering- 
beds, to re-appear in such cave-fed streams as Green River. 
The Short -line Railway from Glasgow Junction to Mammoth 
Cave passes a number of remarkably large sink-holes, one of 
the widest being "Eden A^'alley," covering two thousand acres, 
with no inlet or outlet except through pits that are conjectured 
to lead to the Colossal and the Mammoth caves. 

On the authority of the late Professor Shaler it is said that 
there are four thousand sink-holes and five hundred known 
caverns in Edmondson County alone. In this little hand-book 
w^e can not be expected to give a list of them. In the vicinity 
of jMammoth Cave are several that have celebrity, and would 
amply reward the attention of a visitor. Among them may 
be mentioned Ganter, Diamond, Procter, Salt, and White 
caves. The last two belong to the Mammoth Cave estate, and 
are occasionally visited by tourists. The Salt Cave is remark- 
able for prehistoric relics, and the White Cave for its stalactites. 
Dixon Cave also is noteworthy as having probably been the 
original mouth of Mammoth Cave. It is an immense chamber, 
fifteen hundred feet long, from sixty to eighty feet wide, and 
from eighty to one hundred and twenty-five feet high, and 
was once worked for saltpeter. The Colossal Cavern, belonging 
to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, is but a mile and a 
half distant, and is noted for its magnificence. 

Thus far the woodman's axe has spared the grand old forest 
trees on the estate, except as needed for firewood, and many 
delightful rambles are to be had among them. Game used 
to abound, and still rewards the skillful hunter, and Green 
River abounds in fish. 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 13 

Ownership of the Gave 

Mr. McLean bought the Cave and two hundred acres around 
it, in 1811, for forty dollars, and soon sold it to Mr. Gatewood, 
who in turn sold it to Messrs. Gratz and Wilkins, who sent 
Mr. Archibald Miller from Philadelphia to manage saltpeter 
works for them during the War of 1812, at a time when an 
embargo cut off foreign sources of supply. The Cave estate, with 
sixteen hundred acres of land, passed into the hands of Mr. 
James Moore, a Philadelphia merchant, in 18 16, and when he was 
ruined by the Burr and Blennerhasset fiasco, Gatewood took it 
again and made it a "show-cave." Mr. Frank Gorin bought the 
property in 1837, and made Miller and Moore his agents, with 
Stephen Bishop and Matt Bransford as guides. Discoveries fol- 
lowed so fast as to draw public attention at home and abroad. 

The fame of this natural wonder reached a young physician 
of Louisville, Dr. John Croghan, while traveling in Europe, 
and on his return he became so charmed with the Cave that 
he bought it from Mr. Gorin for $10,000, and also purchased 
two thousand acres about it, in order to control any other 
possible entrances than the main one. To the original miner's 
cabin, Mr. James Miher, his agent, added in 1835 the long row 
of log cabins still used by guests; since joined by wide porches 
and modernized by frame additions and all conveniences. 
Among the agents who have exhibited the Cave or run the 
hotel, or both, are Messrs. Archibald, James, William, and W. 
Scott Miller, Larkin J. Procter, Mr. Owsley, D. L. Graves, Francis 
Klett, W. C. Comstock, Henry C. Ganter, and L. F. Charlet. 

The will of Dr. Croghan, probated February 5, 1849, left 
the entire Mammoth Cave estate in the hands of trustees for 
the benefit of his nine nephews and nieces, namely, the sons 
and daughters of Colonel George Croghan and General T. S. 
Jesup; with the proviso that, when they should all have died, 
the trustees should sell the estate at public auction. Unless 
some of the heirs should buy it, a desirable purchaser might 



14 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

be the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company ; or the entire 
group of caverns in the vicinity might be converted into a State 
or national park. Meanwhile we are content that it should 
remain under the excellent management of the present trustees. 

Xo guides are employed but those who are trustworthy. 
Stephen Bishop and Matt Bransford have passed away ; so have 
Nicholas Bransford and William Garvin. Tom Lee, my first 
guide, and John M. Nelson, with whom I have made many 
an underground trip, are not now in service. Those whom one 
is likely to meet at present are Edward Bishop, William Brans- 
ford, Robert Lively, and Joshua Wilson, with several other 
capable guides at hand for emergencies. All are heroes of 
many adventures, and their strong arms have rescued many a 
visitor from disaster. Their word is law, and no one is allowed to 
enter without a guide. Hence accidents are of rare occurrence. 

The fact so widely heralded that, in the spring of 1909, 
a party of "Shriners" got lost in the Cave for eight hours, 
was wholly due to their refusing to obey the guides, and break- 
ing away from their comrades under the voluntary and un- 
authorized leadership of one of their own number. iVs soon 
as possible guides were dispatched to their rescue, who brought 
them safely out to the open air. 

For the convenience of visitors, as well as with reasonable 
consideration for the guides themselves, certain hours and 
routes are fixed, from which it is not customary to depart, 
unless by special arrangement with the management Four 
routes are mapped out, the uniform charge for each being two 
dollars. For terms for the season, or for large parties, etc., 
as well as for information as to hotel rates, and indeed for any- 
thing special, visitors should apply to the Mammoth Cave 
manager. Cave suits are to let, and proper methods of illumi- 
nation are provided by the guides. Even a few hours of wander - 
ing below ground will be worth while ; but those who can remain 
amid these wonderful scenes for a longer period will be amply 
repaid by incessantly varying sights and experiences. 



MAMMOTH CA VE OF KENTUCKY 



15 




Martha Washington's Statue" 



16 



HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 




O 



a 


^-< 


CD 


^- 


^ 


Fh 


o 


E— I 


H-H 




§ 


Ph 


S 


Pci 


pcJ 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 17 

ROUTE I 

Echo River, Pits and Domes 

A pathway from the Hotel winds through the garden, down 
amid the forest, crossing a wagon road to Green River, and 
then brings us to the only known entrance to Mammoth Cave. 
Evidently it is where the roof broke down long ago; for the 
lower valley was doubtless once part of the cavern, and so 
was what is now known as Dixon Cave. The present Cave 
mouth is seven hundred and thirty-five feet above sea level, 
one hundred and ninety-four feet above the level of Green 
River, and one hundred and eighteen feet below the crest of 
the overhanging bluff. The limestone stratum is three hundred 
and twenty-eight feet thick, measuring from the sandstone 
above to the drainage level below; and within these limits all 
the vast labyrinth extends its ramifications. 

One of the first things noticed by the visitor is the strong 
current of cool air that flows from the Cave mouth, frequently 
too strong to allow the carrying of lighted lamps until a point 
is reached many yards within, where the gale dies away. As 
we descend the solid stone stairway we observe with pleasure 
a waterfall that leaps from the ledge, gleams in the sunlight, 
and vanishes amid the rocks on the floor. Around us hang 
festoons of vines and ferns, and before us is the noble vestibule 
to a temple of eternal night. 

An iron gate is unlocked for us, put there to prevent unpaid 
intrusion and vandal spoliation. Passing through, we bid 
farewell to daylight, and depend on the simple iron lamps 
given to each of us by the guide. The legend that a hunter 
named Houchins, in 1809, chased a wounded bear into this 
throat of the cave, whether authentic or not, is perpetuated 
in the name given it, Houchins' Narrows, made still narrower 



18 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

by the blocks of limestone piled in walls on either side, thus 
leaving a passage only a few feet wide. To the left is the tomb 
of two Indians found in early days and reburied here. No 
monument marks the grave of these nameless aborigines. 
Considering the fact that the Cave was resorted to by many 
generations of red men, it is remarkable that so few human 
remains have rewarded diligent search. 

What are these wooden pipes along the floor? They were 
laid there by the saltpeter miners to convey the water from the 
cascade at the entrance down to the leaching vats that are now 
pointed out to us in the Rotunda. The ruts of old ox-carts are 
visible in which the "peter-dirt" was carried to the vats from 
the open avenues, while sacks were used for those more remote. 
The solution was pumped out to open-air boilers, run through 
ash-hoppers, cooled in crystallization troughs, and packed for 
transportation to the seaboard, mostly by mules. Thus did 
patriotic Kentucky supply the government with one of the 
ingredients of gunpowder, at a time when foreign sources were 
cut off. The yield of nitrate was four pounds to the bushel 
of soil, and the vast heaps of lixiviated earth seem to warrant 
the boast that Mammoth Cave alone "could supply the whole 
population of the globe with saltpeter." 

The lofty arch of the Rotunda is directly under the Hotel ; 
and it would be possible, by means of a shaft, to supply every 
room with the sweetest and' purest air, transforming it into 
a "lime-air" sanitarium, as has actually been done in some 
other localities. By a series of temperature observations 
with verified thermometers, the writer has proved that 
the uniform temperature of the Cave is 54° Fahr., winter 
and summer; and the air is chemically and optically pure. 
Lighted by magnesium fire the grandeur of this first of 
many halls is made visible, as are also the openings of two 
broad avenues, one of them being the Main Cave and the 
other the entrance to Audubon Avenue and Little Bat 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



19 



^ 




20 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

Avenue. Here in winter assemble myriads of bats from all 
the region around, clustering in nooks and crevices for their 
long sleep of hibernation. 

Leaving Audubon Avenue to be described in Route II, 
we enter from it, at a point some five hundred feet from the 
Rotunda, and by a low arch, the winding way known as Little 
Bat Avenue, chiefly remarkable as leading to the Crevice Pit, 
which is immediately over the Ruins of Karnak. The story 
is told by the late Dr, R. M. Bird that a former owner, Mr. 
Wilkins, let a lamp down the pit by a rope that caught fire, 
with the loss of the lamp. A reward of two dollars was offered 
for its recovery. A little darkey agreed to be let down, as a 
sort of living plummet, to sound the depth of the chasm. He 
told such a tale as to the magnificent temple underneath, with 
its tall columns and splendid adornments, that nobody believed 
him. Thirty years later the lost lamp was found by old Matt, 
the guide, who gave it to me. 

The Main Cave, or Grand Gallery, or as we like to style it 
the "Broadway" of this subterranean metropolis, extends 
from the Rotunda to the Cataracts, and must be traversed to 
reach any other part of the cavern. In this first route only 
about eight hundred yards of it are shown. 

High overhead springs an arch eighty feet wide and resting 
on vertical walls. Presently the guide calls our attention to 
the exit of the Corkscrew, on our left, an extraordinary passage- 
way by which we are to return after visiting the River Hall. 
If we happen here as another party is returning, a curious 
effect is produced by their torches emerging one at a time in a 
procession winding down the Kentucky Cliffs. But now we 
advance along the worn cart-road made by the saltpeter miners, 
strewn by their ancient log-conduits, which are strangely pre- 
served during the century that has elapsed since some of them 
were first brought hither. Lift one and you will be astonished 
to find how light they are. At the junction of the Main Cave 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



21 




Leaving the "Corkscrew' 



22 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

and Archibald Avenue is the "Church," where the pious miners 
used to hear the message of salvation taught by itinerant 
preachers, and where in more recent days many a sermon has 
been preached and many a psalm been sung, awakening echoes 
from the cavern walls. 

Reserving the Gothic Avenue for another visit, we note, as 
we pass along, the grotesque figures of animals and birds made 
by the deposits of the black oxide of manganese overhead. 
Mark well the Standing Rocks, which fell edge-downward ages 
ago, set free from the roof possibly by some earthquake shock. 
Now we walk awe-struck under the Grand Arch, where the 
guides effect a marvelous surprise by means of simple illumina- 
tion. They burn chemical fires at a point near the saltpeter 
vats, some five hundred feet to the rear of us, and the contour 
of the walls brings out a statuesque effect which is aptly styled 
''Martha Washington's Statue." It requires but little play 
of the imagination to fancy it a marble representation of that 
eminent lady of Colonial times. 

An immense rock lies near the right-hand wall, forty-five 
feet long, eighteen feet wide, and fifteen feet high, which used 
to be called the Steamboat; but it is now known as the Giant's 
Cofhn. The quasi-sarcophagus may have been torn from the 
adjacent wall by some convulsion, or it may simply have 
fallen and lodged in its present suggestive position. Its weight 
is estimated at two thousand tons. It is one of the great 
landmarks, and though we should pass it many times it is 
impossible to do so without being impressed by its solitary 
grandeur, rivaling as it does the blocks of Caalbec in Syria. 

The route now taken leads us behind the Giant's Coffin, 
through a low and narrow passage which would never have 
been discovered had not the monster rock fallen. This is 
styled Dante's Gateway, from which a rude stairway leads 
us into the Wooden Bowl Room, so named either from its 
peculiar shape or because an Indian wooden bowl was found 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 23 

there. To the left is the opening to what has variously been 
styled Indian Avenue, Blacksnake Avenue, and Welcome 
Avenue. Really it is a combination of several avenues, running 
for the distance of eight thousand five hundred feet, as measured 
by the writer, which have been made passable by the skill and 
industry of Mr. H. C. Ganter when he was manager of the 
Cave, and which for this reason is generally called Ganter 
Avenue. Its inner end is at Serpent Hall, and it gives an 
exit for any one who may get caught beyond the rivers by a 
sudden rise of water. 

Our present path goes through the "Dog-Hole," down a 
stairway fancifully called "The Steeps of Time," leading into 
the region of pits and domes. We pause a while by Richard- 
son's Spring, which is a small pool filled by a running stream 
that has worn for itself a narrow channel in the rock, illustrating 
what has been done for the entire Cave on a grander scale. 
Small crustaceans are found in this clear pool, and blind insects 
abound under the flat rocks near by. Numberless blind 
crickets leap away from us, and white eyeless spiders, brown 
beetles, thousand-legged worms, and other abnormal forms 
of life are found by careful search. Nothing harmful, how- 
ever, appears, either here or elsewhere. As a rule cave-life is 
timid. 

Side-saddle Pit, fifty feet deep, was named from its imagined 
resemblance to a lady's saddle. Above it rises Minerva's Dome, 
thirty feet high. The spot used to be dangerous, but is now 
guarded by a stout railing. Once a terrier leaped down the 
chasm after a fire-ball flung by a guide. The guide's wife 
allowed herself to be lowered by a rope and rescued the poor 
dog, which did not seem to be seriously hurt by his perilous 
adventure. Calypso's Avenue, to the left, leads to the Covered 
Pit and Scylla and Charybdis, which are rarely visited. 

Near the entrance to the Labyrinth is a window through 
which we behold the wonderful and lofty chamber discovered 



24 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

by a former owner of the Cave, Mr. Frank Gorin, in whose 
honor it is named Gorin's Dome. Perhaps the earliest account 
of it was that published by Dr. Davidson. Its height, as 
measured by myself with the aid of a cluster of small balloons, 
is one hundred and sixty feet, its width is thirty-live feet and 
its length sixty feet. Its vertical walls sweep in an S-shaped 
curve and spring from the river level to the apex of the dome, 
with projecting bosses of coral and with cascades that awake 
the echoes as they fall. 

Darnall's Way was cut through the sandbank, in 1896, 
to the summit, where a bridge cast directly across the abyss 
gives us the most complete view to be had of the locality. 
One remarkable feature is a folded alabaster curtain one 
hundred and nineteen feet high. By casting fire-balls down 
the whole interior is grandly illuminated. Davidson descended 
to the bottom, as others have occasionally done since, by 
means of a well some thirty feet deep, down which one clambers 
like a chimney-sweep. He found there "stretching away in 
midnight blackness a horrid pool of water." In 1863 Mr. F. J. 
Stevenson, of London, had a boat made and lowered through 
the window, on which he floated away for seven long hours 
on a perilous voyage that no man has since then repeated. 
The water now setting back from Green River has closed the 
entrance to what we term "Stevenson's Lost River"; but 
his old boat still lies where it was stranded at the bottom of 
Gorin's Dome. 

Another huge abyss, the Bottomless Pit, was long regarded 
as ending further progress, till Stephen Bishop crossed it in 
1840 by means of a slender cedar sapling thrown over the 
yawning gulf; since when it has been spanned by a substantial 
and safe bridge. Instead of being "bottomless" it is exactly 
one hundred and five feet deep. Above it is Shelby's Dome, 
named for the first Governor of Kentucky. Balls of cotton 
waste saturated with coal-oil are flung down by the guides, 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



25 




Bottomless Pit' 



26 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

which grandly display the wrinkled and corrugated walls of 
the pit. Looking directly across, we see an opening through 
which the writer and William Garvin emerged from their 
explorations around Scylla and Charybdis. There are other 
ways of approach, one from Gorin's Dome, another from near 
the Scotchman's Trap, and still another from River Hall to the 
very bottom, from which the upward view almost equals that 
from the base of Gorin's Dome. All this great group of pits 
is connected below to form an immense hall, about four hundred 
feet long, which at high water is flooded by the overflow from 
River Hall. By special permission of former President of the 
United States Benjamin Harrison, this vast room was named 
Harrison Hall. 

On crossing the Bridge of Sighs we find an enlargement of 
the Cave formerly used as a dining place, and hence known 
as Reveller's Hall. Pensico Avenue, along which we go, is 
crossed underneath by an invisible passageway, causing sounds 
to be reproduced in Echo Chamber with marvelous reverbera- 
tions. Wending our way amid the huge rocks that encumber 
Wild Hall we next reach the Grand Crossing, and beyond it 
the singular dry stalactite, the Pineapple Bush, and end our 
path in Angelica's Grotto, with its curious Hanging Grove. 

Retracing our steps to Reveller's Hall, we descend by an 
opening overhung by an enormous slab so poised as to make 
it seem as if a careless breath might make it fall. This is the 
Scotchman's Trap, so named for a canny Scot who refused 
to go farther lest he should be entrapped. But we dive under 
and go on, coming presently to the Fat Man's Misery. This 
is a serpentine passage, its walls changing direction eight times 
in two hundred and thirty -six feet, its width but eighteen 
inches and its height in places only five feet. It is indeed 
enough to try a fat man's soul and body. The sides are marked 
by ripples and waves, and are polished by the friction of 
many vexed visitors. 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 27 

The fattest man that ever went through weighed two 
hundred and eighty-two pounds at the start, but avers that 
he lost twenty pounds in the process. Another, a jovial son 
of Erin, stuck fast and was left to his fate. Later he turned 
up all right and explained matters in his own way. He said 
that he remembered every sin he had ever committed; and 
when he called to mind how, at a certain recent hotly con- 
tested election, he voted the wrong ticket by mistake, it made 
him feel so small that he got free from the Fat Man's Misery 
quite easily. 

The room into which we emerge is fitly styled "Great 
Relief"; and from it we enter the Bacon Chamber, where 
Nature in a frolicsome mood has carved the limestone into 
masses resembling rows of hams and shoulders in a packing- 
house. Near by is the Dining Hall, where, on occasion, well- 
filled tables are spread. 

A special trip can be made through Spark's Avenue, entered 
from Bandit Hall, and leading on to the Mammoth Dome. 
We first visited it in 1878, and were assured that no one had 
been there for seven years. A treacherous old ladder was 
then the only means of descending to the floor, which sloped 
away to a pool whose waters received a cascade falling from 
the lofty apex. The ladder has been replaced by a substantial 
stairway, by crossing which we reach the Egyptian Temple, 
or the Ruins of Karnak. Six columns eighty feet high and 
twenty-five feet in diameter stand in a semicircle, each deeply 
fluted, veneered by yellow stalagmite and covered by mimic 
tracery. Overhead is the black opening already mentioned 
as the Crevice Pit; and underneath are extensive catacombs 
rarely visited. Dr. Call's measurement of the extreme height, 
from the cascade pool to the summit of the dome above the 
Crevice Pit, was one hundred and fifty feet; which was later 
confirmed by my balloon system of measurement. The total 
length of the room is not far from four hundred feet. 



28 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

River Hall, to which we now return, might be said to extend 
for miles, were we to include all the known branches of sub- 
terranean waters. So unlike is it to the Main Cave that we 
might almost be said to have entered another cavern — which 
would really be true. What is called in a general way Mammoth 
Cave is a congeries of different caves, whose walls and floors 
were first thinned and then broken through by the agency of 
water, until was formed the immense and greatly diversified 
labyrinth whose mazes we are exploring. Here is the gathering- 
bed of hundreds of sink-holes opening from the surface. The 
exit is in deep, bubbling pools along Green River, of which the 
Upper and Lower Big Springs are examples. And when 
Green River is flooded by freshets its waters back through such 
secret channels and also flood River Hall by a body of water 
from thirty to one hundred feet in depth and fully two miles 
long, with capricious currents and perilous whirlpools. Navi- 
gation at such times is forbidden ; but at low water it is entirely 
safe, under the care of our skillful guides. 

Sullen waters reposing at the foot of a cliff sixty feet high 
are called the Dead Sea, though not bitter but sweet, as those 
may find who venture down to the margin. An iron railing 
guards the way as we descend to a lower terrace. Presently, 
on the right, we see a cascade, that falls into a funnel-shaped 
hollow and vanishes. Near by, in 1881, the writer found a 
natural mushroom bed, that suggested the idea of a mushroom 
farm, but with meager results because located in Audubon 
Avenue, where irrigation is impracticable. 

The black waters of the River Styx wind between steep 
walls for some four hundred feet, and with an average breadth 
of forty feet. Formerly it was passed over by boat, but now 
by a natural bridge protected by a guard-rail. Lake Lethe is 
next in order, along whose border we go cautiously, in hope 
of seeing specimens of the famous eyeless fi-sh {Amblyopsis 
speleus) that abound in these waters. They seldom exceed 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



29 












30 HONEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

three or four inches in length, are colorless, have cartilage 
instead of bones, are viviparous, and are so sensitive to ap- 
proach that they dart away if a grain of sand falls on the water. 
The blind white crawfish (Cambanis pelliicidus) is often seen. 
These creatures were first described by Dr. Davidson, two 
years previous to their being mentioned by DeKay, who was 
credited by Agassiz as their discoverer. 

The Great Walk for four hundred yards used to be admired, 
but now its beautiful yellow sand is covered by the back-water 
from the rivers. The roof here is mottled like snow-clouds. 
Midway the mask of Shakespeare is pointed out, and other 
objects of interest are visible. Stephen Bishop, John Craig, 
and Brice Patton first crossed these rivers, over which thousands 
have since safely voyaged. A fleet of flat-boats awaits us, the 
material for which was brought in by way of the Crevice Pit. 
Each boat has seats for some twenty persons, while the guide 
propels the primitive craft by his paddle. 

Four arches open to the Echo River, only the fourth being 
ordinarily available. To reach this we cross the Sandy Sahara 
and flounder through the Slough of Purgatory. The voyage 
abounds in most enjoyable adventures, though care must be 
taken not to upset amid waters that have no shores except 
at the landing-places. A few years ago a party, mainly of 
journalists, managed to swamp their boat, but were rescued 
by the presence of mind of all concerned, particularly the 
strong-armed and faithful guide, John M. Nelson, whose orders 
they obeyed. 

Echo River varies in width from twenty to two hundred 
feet, under an archway averaging thirty feet in height, the 
depth varying from five to twenty-five feet, and its level being 
only about twenty feet above that of Green River. The portion 
over which visitors are taken is perhaps half a mile or more 
long. All along its margin, where the rock abruptly meets 
the water, are countless cavities that have been washed out 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



31 




32 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

l3y the stream. These gave a wag in our party on first crossing 
the river his chance, and he cried, "Oh, see these little bits of 
caves, three for five cents!" Then awoke the echoes and 
carried the sound away and away till he was ashamed of himself. 
Then a lady in black velvet Cave costume, with tiny bells along 
the fringe to keep her from getting lost, sang the "Sweet Bye 
and Bye." A revolver was fired, answered by a "Rebel Yell." 
Flute and cornet were played with magical effect. 

The term "echo" misleads; for what is given is really a 
wonderful prolongation of sound, lasting five, ten, or even 
twenty minutes. The tunnel's own key-note when struck 
excites harmonics of depth and sweetness, along with a pro- 
found undertone. When the guide agitates the water a myriad 
tiny silver bells tinkle, followed by heavier ones as the waves 
strike the cavities along the walls. This tempest of harmony 
dies away with strange mutterings, as if of an angry mob. 
Mr. Ganter tells of a time when the writer fooled him by causing 
unearthly shrieks, as of wretches in mortal agony, at an hour 
when none were on the river but themselves. 

Here ends the First Route. We retrace our steps as far 
as Bandit Hall, where some one raises the question if there is 
no way out but by Fat Man's Misery. The guide answers, 
"Yes, by the Corkscrew," adding the warning, "Those who 
come in by the Fat Man's Misery go out by the Corkscrew, 
and those who come in by the Corkscrew go out by the Fat 
Man's Misery: and whichever way they take, they wish they 
had taken the other." So, up we scramble like so many rats, 
under or over great ledges, leaping from rock to rock, or climbing 
ladders, through what seems like an enormous pit that had 
been filled in with gigantic rocks, till at last, breathless, we 
emerge upon the Kentucky Cliffs in the Main Cave. A few 
steps carry us past the saltpeter vats, through the Rotunda, 
and the iron gate is unlocked to let us into the vestibule, whence 
we climb the stone stairs to daylight. 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



33 




"Bridal Altar' 



34 



HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 




^^ 



2i z == ^ = I:^ z-^ T-cnK 
-J ~.ii!; <t«-.-5t->t:"• 



— coO ° ii-' 



•-: ryj CO ^ U> U) 



_i uj a._ 






MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 35 

ROUTE II 

Olive's Bower, Star Chamber, and Gothic Avenue 

After a suitable period of rest and refreshment at the Hotel 
we resume our way along the same path taken for the first 
route, but presently deviate to explore Audubon Avenue, of 
which we had only seen the beginning. It is related that when 
the great ornithologist visited Rafinesque, the former smashed 
a fine violin in his eagerness to capture a unique specimen of 
the bat family. As a kind of amicable revenge the latter 
afiixed Audubon's name to this avenue, where so many myriads 
of bats annually hibernate. It is fitting that the great branch 
to the left, sweeping for three hundred and fifty feet and 
suddenly ending in a tumble-down, should be named Rafinesque 
Hall. Unless our visit is in late fall or winter, we find but 
few clusters of bats; but in cold weather they gather here 
from near and far and hang head-downward till somehow, 
by a sense not explained, they know it is warm weather out- 
of-doors, and then fly forth to the forests. Dr. Call boasts of a 
single catch that gave him six hundred and seventy bats, of many 
varieties, most of which were sent to the National Museum. 

Advancing through Audubon Avenue, we soon find the 
roof and floor approaching to form what is called Bunker Hill, 
around which we pass by a narrow defile. The Mushroom 
Beds attract our attention, to which we have already referred 
as having cost far more than they ever returned by way of 
profit, although the idea itself is feasible. 

Above a floor encumbered by debris hang formations needing 
an explanation. Limpid drops trickle through the roof, 
saturated with bicarbonate of lime. The supply of water 
is constant, but so meager as to drip instead of flow; and as 
the dripping goes on each drop lays down its load as a ring 



36 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

slight enough for a fairy's finger. Ring follows ring till a 
pendant is formed like a pipestem. The pipestems thicken to the 
size of candles, and often grow as large as tree-trunks. Occasion- 
ally they broaden into elegant drapery, or are twisted into 
fantastic shapes. All these stone icicles are called "stalactites." 

Such lime- laden drops as fall splash about and on evapora- 
tion deposit, not rings, but films thin as tissue-paper, building 
up stalagmites that are solid from their base upwards. Often 
these downward and upward growths meet as stately shafts, 
like the pillar named the Sentinel, which guards Olive's Bower 
a few steps beyond it. 

The general term "dripstone" is conveniently applied to 
all these deposits, and their finer varieties are known to the 
mineralogist as "oriental alabaster." A central stalactite 
in Olive's Bower is very large and cone-shaped, amid many 
smaller ones. Below is a rampart, looking over which we see, 
some twenty feet below, a limpid pool that reflects the over- 
hanging formations. Before leaving the subject of dripstone 
it should be remarked that, chemically regarded, it is simply 
the hard carbonate, not the bicarbonate, as is often alleged; 
the latter being an unstable compound, readily changing on 
any change of its conditions. 

The pit which arrests our progress beyond Olive's Bower 
might, if explored, prove this locality to be connected with 
White's Cave, whose features it resembles. On returning to 
the Rotunda we again inspect the historic relics of the War 
of 1812, and mark the grooves cut in the limestone walls by 
the hubs of the primitive cart-wheels that were slowly drawn 
along by oxen to collect the nitrous earth for the saltpeter 
vats. We notice that the bottoms of these vats were made of 
small logs halved and groove.d and laid in layers on supports; 
the lower layer with its grooved surface up, to receive the second 
layer in reversed position, making a method for conveying 
the lye into reservoirs, whence it was pumped out to the crys- 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 37 

tallization troughs. Dr. Call was the first to direct attention 
to this ingenious device. 

Again we forsake the Main Cave for a ramble through 
Gothic Avenue, which is reached by a stairway just beyond 
the vats. At the entrance to it is Booth's Amphitheatre, 
where Edwin Booth is said to have recited a part of the play 
of Hamlet. In early times a mummy was found in an adjoin- 
ing cave, and brought hither for exhibition. The alcove where 
it reposed still bears the name of the Mummy's Niche. It was 
afterward carried about through the West on exhibition, and 
it was the writer's privilege to see it at that time. It was 
naturally dessicated, and with its ornaments and garments 
was regarded as a great curiosity It remained in a museum 
at Worcester, Mass., for many years, and is now in the National 
Museum at Washington, D. C. 

Hundreds of visitors have recorded their names in Register 
Hall, either by scratching them on the wall with the knife 
or smoking them there by their candles, or else by the less 
conspicuous way of depositing their cards on the ledge set 
apart for that purpose. Here, and also in parts of the Main 
Cave, so-called "monuments" are built by piling up flat frag- 
ments of stone in honor of individuals. States, or benevolent 
organizations ; a practice which incidentally has helped to clear 
obstructions from the pathway in which we walk. The largest 
of them all is quite properly the Kentucky Monument. The 
effect in general, however, is to divert attention from the 
natural attractions. 

The hoary old stalactites, great and small, in Gothic Avenue 
got their growth ages ago. The signs show that long ago the 
Cave stream was diverted to lower channels, leaving the place 
as dry as a tinder-box. The Post-Oak Pillar, the Pillars of 
Hercules, Pompey and Caesar, and the Altar in Gothic Chapel, 
are interesting and picturesque, and give the guides occasion 
for many legends and jokes; but do not warrant the con- 



38 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

elusions drawn by Dr. Binkerd and others as to the age of 
the Mammoth Cave, judging by the alleged slow growth of 
dripstone in a locality where there is now no growth at all. 
There is no doubt as to the vast antiquity of the great cavern, 
whose remote origin is by many referred to the Tertiary Period ; 
but it must be remembered that geological changes are by no 
means uniform, and that catastrophe has evidently played 
a conspicuous part in cave-making. 

There is not enough moisture now in Gothic Avenue to 
make the atoms float in the air. Toss a handful of dust up, 
and it falls back like so much shot. I saw a party of young 
people who came here directly from the ballroom, and not a 
particle of dust spotted the trailing robes or clung to the pol- 
ished boots. Wood here undergoes tardy decay, and fresh 
beef and other meats keep sweet for a long time, and then 
dry up like the old mummy which was mentioned as having 
once been placed here. 

Pompey's Pillar is named for a negro miner, a raw hand, 
who in old times trudged in here alone for "peter-dirt" and 
lost his way. He stumbled, put out his lamp, and was in a 
frenzy. When at last he saw his half-naked negro comrades 
approach, swinging their torches and shouting, he took them 
for demons, and shouted lustily for mercy. It took no little 
shaking and punching to convince him that he was yet alive 
and in Mammoth Cave, instead of elsewhere. 

It may tax the imagination to fmd the resemblance to an 
Elephant's Head in the stalactite so cahed; but once found 
the grotesque likeness is vivid. 

A curious legend told of the Gothic Chapel and its Bridal 
Altar is verified. A Kentucky belle gave her heart to a gallant 
Southron. But her mother, who opposed the match, made 
her swear never to marry any man on the face of the earth. 
Shortly the lovers eloped and were hotly pursued; but before 
they were caught they were married in this novel Gretna 
Green. Taxed with her broken pledge, the bride replied: 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



p 

s. 



O 
o 

I 




40 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

** Mother, dear, it was not marrying any man 'on the face of 
the earth ' to wed my own true love in this underground chapel." 

Few ladies fail to rest awhile in the Old Arm Chair, a stalag- 
mite naturally fitted as a seat. Jenny Lind sat liere and sang 
one of her sweet songs; and many a song has been sung here 
since. A slender projection beyond it is called the Lover's Leap, 
from whose point an illumination shows a wild mass of rocks 
amid which runs a narrow path styled the Elbow Crevice, 
whose walls are fantastically folded. We escape from the ragged 
edge of what is known as Joseph's Pit, and note in passing the 
Devil's Cooling Tub. Gatewood's Dining-Table is a huge fiat 
rock directly under Napoleon's Dome, from whose apex it fell. 

Gratz Avenue, into which we enter, is not on the same 
Cave level as the Gothic Avenue. Unless we take care we 
may walk directly into the exquisitely clear waters of Lake 
Purity, a small mirror-like pool. Beyond it we go, winding 
to and fro, till at the foot of a small cliff we find the entrance 
to Annette's Dome, one of the prettiest in all the Cave. Shaler's 
Brook spouts from the wall and runs merrily and musically into 
a smaller room, whence it vanishes, falling by a leap of seventy 
feet into Lee's Cistern. In Gratz Avenue are found blind crus- 
taceans, crickets, and other forms of life described by Dr. Call. 

We now retrace our way to the Main Cave, passing various 
objects noticed in the first route. Shortly beyond the Giant's 
Coffin the Main Cave turns suddenly to the left at the Acute 
Angle, where the burning magnesium makes visible the vast 
dimensions of the cavern by illuminating it in two directions 
at once. A village in the vicinity formerly sheltered a colony 
of consumptives who, in 1843, and by medical advice, took 
up their abode here, hopeful for relief or cure because of the 
uniform temperature and the naturally oxygenated air. The 
sunless days passed slowly by till the pitiful experiment was 
abandoned as a failure, as was also the experiment by the 
invalids to make trees and shrubbery grow around their dismal 
huts. Some of the victims of the "white plague" lie buried 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



41 




Old Arm Chair' 



42 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

in the grove back of the Hotel garden, while others died soon 
after returning to their homes. There were originally thirteen 
cottages and tents, the only ones now remaining being two 
roofless stone structures beyond the Acute Angle. 

A strangely beautiful transformation scene is wrought for 
us in the Star Chamber, a hall seventy feet wide, sixty feet 
high, and several hundred feet long. The ceiling is coated 
with manganese dioxide, and through this black background 
emerge hundreds of brilliant white stars, made by the efflores- 
cence of the sulphate of magnesia. These are invisible at first, 
and the magnificent archway sweeps above us in midnight 
blackness. Long benches are ranged against the right-hand 
wall, on which the guide seats us, while he collects our lamps 
and vanishes with them behind a jutting rock. Then comes 
the marvelous illusion. The roof seems lifted to an immense 
height. Indeed, we seem to gaze from a canon directly up 
to the starry sky. Cloud-shadows are thrown athwart it by 
adroit manipulation. A meteor shoots across the vault. We 
behold the mild glory of the Milky Way. Suddenly the guide 
breaks in upon our exclamations of delight by saying, "Good 
night. I will see you again in the morning!" He plunges 
into a gorge. We are in utter darkness. The silence is so 
perfect that we can hear our hearts beat. Presently a glimmer 
comes from another direction, like a faint streak of dawn. 
The aurora tinges the tips of the rocks; the horizon is bathed 
in a rosy glow; a concert of cock-crowing, the lowing of cattle 
and other barnyard sounds, answered by the barking of the 
house-dog, seem to herald the rising sun; when the ventrilo- 
quial guide appears, swinging his cluster of lamps and asking 
how we liked the performance. Our response is a hearty 
encore; after granting which the guide tells us that the second 
route ends here, and he must pilot us back to the mouth of 
the Cave and to the Hotel. Those who have witnessed the 
wonders of the Star Chamber many times testify that the 
charm never wanes. 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



43 




The Acute Angle" 



44 



HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 




MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 45 

ROUTE III 

From the Star Chamber to Violet City 

Familiar now with the features of the first part of the Main 
Cave, we trudge along rapidly, till the guide cries "Halt!" 
We seem to hear the measured ticking of an old-fashioned 
clock. We find the natural timepiece to be but the dripping 
of water into a small basin hidden behind some rocks. The 
drops fall only a few inches, one by one, as they may have 
fallen for a thousand years; but such are the acoustic prop- 
erties of the place that their musical ticking is heard for a long 
distance. The guide shows us also another pretty pool, made 
by a tiny rill gushing from the solid wall; and he tells us the 
story of a rambling blind boy, who won a living by his violin, 
and who said that he "wanted to see the Cave" for himself. 
Somehow he got apart from his companions, and when they 
found the little boy he was sound asleep beside this tiny basin, 
which has ever since been known as "Wandering Willie's 
Spring." 

Hastening on to the Star Chamber, we resume our explora- 
tion of the Main Cave. Beyond that hall of constellations, 
the Grand Gallery — as it used to be called — sweeps to the 
right, and the starry canopy changes to a "mackerel-sky," 
caused by the scaling-off of the black deposit on the ceiling, 
thus exposing the white limestone. This is the Floating Cloud 
Room. As we look aloft at the fleecy masses that seem to 
float along, we notice a stout oak pole jutting from an inac- 
cessible crevice. When, why, how, and by whom was it put 
there? In Lee's "Notes of the Mammoth Cave," in 1835, 
ancient fireplaces are mentioned, which were also shown to 
myself by old Matt, in 1881, and which were hidden by broad 
slabs along the margin of the Cave. 



46 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

Curious objects are pointed out as we walk through Procter's 
Arcade and Kinney's Arena, lofty and symmetrical enlarge- 
ments of the passageway. One of them is another stout pole 
in a rift in the roof. The Keel-Boat (or the Whale) is an 
enormous rock seventy feet long, and a tilted slab of limestone 
is the Devil's Looking-Glass. Presently it begins to snow; 
and our shouts make the flakes fall faster. Waving lamps 
and lighted fire-balls augment the storm. Seeking an explana- 
tion, we find that the ceiling is crusted with native Epsom 
salts, whose crystals are thus dislodged, as well as more silently 
by the growth of new crystals, falling as saline snow till the 
brown ledges are whitened by mimic snowdrifts. 

No stooping or crawling has to be done in the Main Cave, 
and the floor is everywhere dry. Formerly the tilting slabs 
of limestone made walking difficult, but now these are removed 
so as to give us a fairly smooth road throughout. The ser- 
pentine winding known as the S-bend expands to a width of 
one hundred and seventy-five feet and keeps that width for 
five hundred and fifty feet; but midway it meets a grand 
crossing, that increases the width to about four hundred feet. 
Fox Avenue, near by, encloses a large cave-island. 

Dr. Nahum Ward and other early explorers fancied the 
Main Cave as formerly an underground Nile, and its rocky 
masses ruined cities ; and on the first maps they were numbered 
First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth City. The first in 
order was called the Chief City, while the fourth, now familiar 
to us by that name, was the Temple. This fact explains some 
conflicting accounts by early and more recent authors. Robert 
M. Bird was responsible for these changes, giving the name 
of Wright's Rotunda to the First City in honor of his friend. 
Prof. C. A. Wright, M. D. 

This is one of the most spacious rooms in the Cave, being 
shaped like the letter T, its length about five hundred feet 
and its width at the transept about three hundred and fifty 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 47 

feet. The ceiling is quite level throughout, but the floor is 
irregular, causing the space between roof and floor to vary 
from ten to forty-five feet. When several chemical fires are 
ignited at distant points simultaneously the effect is superb. 
Ragged cliffs divide this prodigious area, making a sort of 
great island, beyond which by climbing through the so-called 
Chimneys those who wish can reach the Black Chambers above, 
extending for several hundred feet. The walls and domes 
of these chambers are coated with the black oxide of 
manganese, and the enormous rocks lie scattered in the wildest 
disorder. 

Returning to Wright's Rotunda and taking the other arm 
of the T, we presently find ourselves looking directly into a 
steep hollow, or pit, into which the Cataracts tumble from 
orifices in the roof, and with resounding force after a rainfall. 
Those who risk a descent part way down the pit and climb 
over a wall may find their way into the Solitary Chambers 
and the Fairy Grotto, though the difficulty of access prevents 
these places from being ordinarily exhibited. A "tumble- 
down" to the left of the Cataract chasm might correctly be 
regarded as the termination of the Main Cave. 

A passage to the left opens from Cataract Hall to a lofty 
avenue commonly spoken of as a continuation of the Main Cave, 
but really on another level. The limestone slabs that used 
to clatter under our feet and endanger our equilibrium have 
been made firm or else removed, and we easily proceed through 
the Gorge and across the portal of what once was styled the 
Temple, but has long been known as the Chief City. 

By my measurement the room is four hundred and fifty 
feet long, with an average width of one hundred and seventy- 
five feet; but others have made the dimensions larger. The 
utmost height does not exceed one hundred and twenty-five 
feet. The maximum width, as measured by Dr. Call, is two 
hundred and eighty-seven feet. The area covers about two 



48 HO FEY 'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

acres. And over this vast space springs a solid and seamless 
canopy of gray limestone, that has thus lifted its majestic arch 
for thousands of years. Dr. Bird found here, in 1S37, aborig- 
inal relics "in astonishing, unaccountable quantities." Former- 
ly these were heaped as bonfires to illuminate the chamber; 
but even yet cartloads remain of half-burnt cane-torches, 
fragments of woven moccasins, and other objects of interest, 
to reward search amid crevices and crannies. The theory is 
that the Indians made this place their council chamber, or 
else their stronghold of refuge from enemies. 

Fascinated with the local attractions and possibly too for- 
getful of the weariness of my guide, I lingered once till mid- 
night, prowling amid the fastnesses of the Chief City. Noticing 
presently the utter silence that prevailed, I returned to where 
my guide had been left on guard, only to find a couple of 
lamps and a strip of brown paper on which he had scrawled 
the words, "It is midnight and I got tired and went out." 
The guide had really deserted me, and the only thing to do 
was to await the coming of comrades, who would surely hunt 
me up, as they did after the lapse of an hour or so. Extin- 
guishing the lamps meanwhile, fancy was given full play to 
people the mysterious council chamber with ghosts of dusky 
warriors, till there seemed to be a rush of whispers and other 
imaginary sounds that were really caused, I suppose, by the 
coursing of the blood through my veins. It was easy to realize 
that a person actually lost in Mammoth Cave might soon be 
so bewildered as to lose his reason. Even in my own case it 
was a relief to break the spell, as I did, by simply striking a 
match and trimming anew the flickering flame of my lamps. 
Every observant visitor has seen with pleasure the assemblage 
of rocks and the overarching canopy aglow with Bengal lights 
or burning magnesium, and has commented on the singular 
fact that the lofty dome seems to follow him as he retires from 
its protection. 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 49 

St. Catherine City, which Hes beyond, is at the intersection 
of the Blue Spring Branch and BlackaU Avenue with the 
main passageway. The latter, recently named in honor of the 
veteran cave-hunter. Dr. C. R. Blackall, of Philadelphia, ends 
in a funnel-shaped pit bearing the name of Symmes' Pit, 
probably in memory of Captain John Cleves Symmes, of 
Newport, Kentucky, whose theory gained much attention 
formerly— that our globe was a hollow sphere with an opening 
at the poles, and that within were races of men and animals 
different from those on the surface. At a public meeting 
held at Frankfort, a resolution was adopted to the effect that 
the United States Congress should fit out an expedition to the 
Arctic Circle under his command, in order to find, if possible, 
the mysterious Polar pit for which this Cave pit was named. 
Our course, however, leads us to Waldach's Dome (in 
memory of Charles Waldach, the pioneer in cave-photography) 
and Hains' Dome (in honor of his successor, Ben Hains), 
both of them symmetrical and noble domes, rising to oval 
ceilings above smooth floors of sand. In the Garret we find 
flakes of Epsom salts like those found in the Snow Room. 
Bending low through Mayme's Stoopway, we reach what to 
Dr. Call and myself seemed to be an impenetrable wall, to 
which we gave what we thought the fitting name of "Ultima 

Thule." 

In the year 1908 Mr. Max Kaemper, of Germany, undertook 
a complete exploration of Mammoth Cave, assisted by Edward 
Bishop, guide, the results of which are exclusively for the 
owners of the Cave. Their observations led them to suspect 
that a certain tumble-down in the Sandstone Avenue might 
be identical with the tumble-down known as Ultima Thule. 
Hence they attacked a crawl-way near the latter, and by 
patiently removing many limestone fragments they wormed 
their way through to an oval hall, one hundred and sixty feet 
long by one hundred and twenty feet wide and sixty feet high, 



50 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

now named, for its discoverer, Kaemper Hall. An unseen 
waterfall, by whose music they had been led onward, was 
now seen to dash down an abyss they named, for the guide, 
Bishop's Pit. Another is the " Parrish Pit," so called for 
Norman A. Parrish, of Buffalo, New York. These are the first 
of a series of eleven pits, the others not yet being named. 

Fifty steps to the right is a short passage where an iron 
gate is now fixed, opening into a symmetrical chamber seventy- 
five feet in diameter and of about the same height, rising by 
vaulted arches and closing above in a beautiful circle. This 
is Elizabeth's Dome, named for a sister of Mr. Kaemper. The 
exit is by the Grand Portal, an arch sixty feet wide and fifty 
feet high, commanding one of the most magnificent views in 
all the underground world. 

On visiting the locality soon after its discovery, I seated 
myself on Albert's Stairway, while one of my companions 
ignited Bengal lights here and there, and the other used an 
automobile searchlight brought in for the purpose; and thus 
they gave me my first view of the wonderful region, to which 
the general name of Violet City is given, in honor of Mrs. 
Violet Blair Janin, the wife of Trustee Albert C. Janin, and 
the fair owner of one third of the Mammoth Cave estate. 
Special features are Blair Castle and the Marble Temple, whose 
environs are styled "Walhalla," for the fabled realm above 
the clouds where dwell the heroes and demigods of old German 
mythology. 

Picking up our torches again, and carrying my acetylene 
bicycle lamp, to which I had fixed a convenient handle, we 
followed a natural pathway near the wall on the left, that 
led us from place to place. We found that Violet City is two 
hundred and fifty feet long by one hundred and twenty-five 
wide, rivaled only in size by Wright's Rotunda and the Chief 
City, and greatly exceeding them in beauty. A sandstone 
cave-in at the end seems to lend color to the idea that Sand- 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



51 




52 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

stone Avenue, or some similar place, is near. These fallen 
blocks are cemented together by a profusion of onyx. 

Stalactites and stalagmites abound everywhere, varying 
in color from the purest white alabaster through every imagi- 
nable shade. The upper central part of the hall is crowned by 
three masses of fluted white onyx, glistening with exquisite 
crystals, while from the roof hang in fine array stalactites 
eight or ten feet long. The right wall is decorated with pure 
white formations, and the left wall is coated with rich brown 
onyx. A row of stalactites of varying length emit musical 
tones when struck by the knuckles, and by skillful percussion 
simple airs can be played on them. These are the Chimes. 

Other attractions excite surprise. The Beer Mug, like a 
mug of foaming ale, the Ripe Tomato, a rare bit of red onyx, 
and other odd specimens of natural mimicry are here. One 
familiar with the brilliant creations found in the wonderful 
caverns of Luray might easily imagine himself in that Vir- 
ginian fairyland instead of in Mammoth Cave. Thus far these 
marvelous treasures have been kept untouched by vandal 
fingers, such as have robbed or destroyed elsewhere what should 
have been most jealously guarded in the greatest cavern known. 

In his zeal to open a passage from Violet City to Sandstone 
Avenue Mr. Kaemper obtained permission to use explosives. 
Thus he made considerable progress. However, the indications 
were that he was likely to burst through to the surface some- 
where, instead of into Sandstone Avenue, and accordingly he 
desisted. In either case the result might have been advan- 
tageous. An opening into Sandstone Avenue would enable 
visitors to make the circuit through the Main Cave and Violet 
City, and return by the Long Route, without having to retrace 
their steps. On the other hand, an exit to the surface from near 
Violet City would enable them to return by coach to the Cave 
Hotel without a wearisome tramp over ground already trodden. 

To convince those who, like the writer, are skeptical as 
to the proximity of Violet City and Sandstone Avenue, Kaemper 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



53 




"The Marble Temple' 



54 



HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 



and Bishop repaired, one to the first place and the other to 
the second, agreeing on a fixed moment by the watch when 
they would fire revolvers and likewise hammer on the rocks. 
The pistol shots were inaudible, but the blows on the walls 
were faintly heard. By similar sound-tests it was determined 
that Wright's Rotunda is directly above the Serpent Hall 
(beyond Echo River), so that it might be possible to connect 
them by a stairway through an artificial shaft. Incidentally 
I may state, however, as showing how far sound may travel 
through the rocks and their mysterious crevices, that, while 
in the Chief City, we heard the steam-cars running over the 
Mammoth Cave Railroad. 

But now no short cut is provided for us, and we return as 
we came, carrying with us delightful memories of the New 
Discovery. 




William Garvin, the Guide 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 



55 



< 
o 

Q 

rt-' 




56 



HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 




MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 5? 

ROUTE IV 

To the Maelstrom and Hovey's Cathedral 

Let no one in ordinary vigor forego the remarkable scenes 
of what is frequently known as "The Long Route," simply 
because longer than either of the other three. The trip is 
varied by the boat-ride, the midday lunch, and the occasional 
stops at points of interest. The spirits are also sustained 
by the exhilarating Cave atmosphere. 

We may imagine ourselves, therefore, as having landed at 
Rocky Inlet, on the farther shore of the wonderful Echo River. 
Soon we are greeted by the music of the waterfall in Cascade 
Llall. To our right are Stephenson's Avenue, whose principal 
attraction is Neptune's Cups, and the Aquarius Avenue, leading 
to Roaring River; both of which offer matters of interest to 
the scientist, but are never visited by ordinary tourists, who 
hasten on to other scenes more accessible. Wellington's 
Galleries are peculiar shelf-like projections. At Dripping 
Spring we find a few stalactites. We pass in safety what the 
guides irreverently name the Infernal Regions, Pluto's Dome, 
and Old vScratch Hall — the latter being surprisingly scratched 
all over, while the only trails of serpents in Serpent Hall are 
the freaks of nature observed as winding channels overhead. 
The fact should be noted that this is high-water mark for 
Echo River in time of flood. Hence we take particular interest 
in the opening from Serpent Hall to Ganter Avenue as our 
only exit at such times, running as it does for eight thousand five 
hundred feet to the Wooden Bowl Room, near the Giant's Coffin 
in the Main Cave. We are assured, however, that visitors 
are seldom so unlucky as to get caught by such a sudden rise 
of the waters. We have now entered Silliman's Avenue, 
named for the late Professor Silliman of Yale University. In 



58 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

the Valley-Way Side-Cut are singular crystals of gypsum that 
grow in the ground, whence they are dug up, like so many 
potatoes. Beyond the Hill of Fatigue stands the Great West- 
ern, resembling an ocean steamer, her helm hard-a-port. By 
mounting a ledge between the Vale of Flowers and Rabbit 
Rock, and following Rhoda Arcade for about five hundred 
yards amid interesting incrustations, we find three domes, 
named for different members of the Jesup family, the highest 
and most symmetrical being Lucy's Dome, connected by a 
lofty archway with the other two. Immense alabaster cur- 
tains hang on the walls, and the effect when illuminated from 
the archway is grand. 

On the left of vSilliman's Avenue is a hall with fine acoustic 
properties, thirty feet wide, forty long, and twenty high, 
where the famous Norwegian violinist Ole Bull is said to have 
once given a special performance ; and hence it bears his name, 
Ole Bull's Concert Hall. The wild and rugged pass which, 
on the map, seems to be a continuance of vSilliman's Avenue, 
is really on a lower level, and is well named "El Ghor" (The 
Gorge). It winds about like a forsaken river bed, which it 
undoubtedly is, and offers many surprising sights. One such 
is the Fly Chamber, in which swarms of house-flies seem to 
have settled on the walls and ceiling. Examination proves 
them to be so many crystals of black oxide of manganese. 
The Hanging Rocks, the Sheep-shelter, and the Victoria Crown 
are formations whose names suggest their shape. Immediately 
over El Ghor is Corinne's Dome, nine feet wide and about 
forty feet high. The guide points out what he styles Suicide 
Rock, and when you innocently ask him "Why?" his ready 
reply is, "Because it hung itself." The Black Hole of Calcutta 
is an ugly black pit on the left of the pass. El Ghor continues 
on for some distance, but we leave it after refreshing ourselves 
at Hebe's Spring, a clear pool four feet in diameter by a foot 
and a half deep, and said to be impregnated with sulphur; 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 59 

a fact of interest — it might easily come from the reduction of 
gypsum or Epsom salt. 

Stevenson, who was here in 1861, says, "There is a short 
avenue, or rather a hole, leading from El Ghor to a sheet of 
water called Mystic River, which has not been explored, as 
they have never been able to get a boat in there." Other 
early writers mention Mystic River, but Dr. Cah and myself 
were unable to find it. Possibly it is identical with the stream 
in Martel Avenue; but no one would ever think of a "boat" 
in connection with the latter. 

Boone Avenue, diverging from El Ghor to our left at a point 
five thousand eight hundred and twenty yards from the mouth 
of the Cave, was for many years blocked by a stone stairway, 
recently removed. Important discoveries were made in this 
direction in 1907, to which we shall presently give attention. 

Now, however, we climb up through an uninviting hole 
at our right that admits us to an upper tier of caverns. When 
the last man is through we burn blue fire, and are surprised 
to find ourselves in a stone vineyard. Nodules and globules 
simulate clusters on clusters of luscious grapes, gleaming with 
parti-colored tints through dripping dew. No covetous hand 
is allowed to pluck the marvelous vintage of Mary's Vineyard ; 
which, after all, the mineralogist explains as simply calcium 
carbonate coated with the black oxide of iron. 

Washington Hall, smoke-stained and its floor strewn with 
relics of hundreds of lunch-parties in former days, is mainly 
interesting as the place whence two grand avenues diverge, 
namely, Marion Avenue, not included in our route, and Cleave- 
land Avenue, so named for the late mineralogist of that name. 
This avenue is one of the great "hons" of Mammoth Cave, 
and many think more of it than of all the other Cave lions put 
together. It has indeed a marvelous beauty peculiarly its 
own. Walls and ceiling everywhere are decorated by mimic 
leaves and flowers, in an infinite varjety of form. There is 



€0 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

hardly a plant known to botany that does not find its counter- 
part here; but roses, camellias, and chrysanthemums are the 
most common varieties. In many parts of this treasury of 
crystals there is not a space as large as your hand that is not 
decorated by dazzling blossoms; and even the floor sparkles 
with bright fragments of flowers demolished by vandal visitors. 
Dr. John Locke, of Cincinnati, gave these Cave rosettes the 
name of "oulopholites," meaning literally "curled-leaf -stones." 
Among descriptive names assigned to different parts of this 
enchanted realm are Snowball Room, Flora's Garden, Orpha's 
Garden, the Cross of Flowers, the Last Rose of Summer, Crypt 
of Jewels, and Charlotte's Grotto. These are not all of them 
in Cleaveland Avenue, but some are in its vicinity. It is a 
vast crystalline region, through which one may wander for 
fully two miles and occasionally find, in some secluded nook, 
the trailing vines, stalks of celery, and stag's antlers described 
by early tourists. 

Surfeited at length by such floral splendors, we suddenly 
emerge into Call's Rotunda and clamber up the loosely piled 
blocks of limestone called the Rocky Mountains, from whose 
summit we look down into the Dismal Hollow, whose gloom 
our red fires hardly succeed in dispelling. Three avenues 
branch from Call's Rotunda; one to Sandstone Avenue, which 
Kaemper considers to be in proximity to Violet City ; another, 
Franklin Avenue, ends in Serena's Arbor; and the third leads 
directly to a large room named, for the former owner of the 
Cave, Croghan's Hall. It is sixty feet in diameter and thirty 
feet high. Here we find the yawning chasm known as the 
Maelstrom, which by my measurement is eighty-eight feet 
deep, though often described as far deeper than that. It is 
claimed that W. C. Prentice was the first to descend to the 
bottom of this abyss. According to Mr. Procter the same 
feat was afterward accomplished by Mr. Richard Babbitt. 
Mr. F. J. Stevenson, of London, in his letters to his mother, 
tells the story at great length of his own descent into the 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 61 

Maelstrom in the presence of thirty witnesses and with the 
help of two guides, Nicholas Branford and Frank de Monbrun. 
On the 15th of May, 1905, Mr. Benjamin F. Einbigler and 
John M. Nelson, guide, were lowered by ropes held by Edward 
Hawkins and Levi Woodson, guides, the rope-length being 
exactly ninety-seven feet eight inches. Their account differs 
materially from the former descriptions, but we will not try 
to adjust their statements in this manual. The most that the 
visitor will be apt to do will be to peer over the brink and 
wonder that anybody should venture down such an awful 
abyss. This is estimated to be ninety-six hundred yards from 
the entrance to the Cave, and is often spoken of as "the end 
of Mammoth Cave." But who can tell where the real "end" 
of so vast a labyrinth may be? At any rate here we turn and 
retrace our steps through the paradise of Cave flowers until 
we reach Mary's Vineyard and descend to the level of El Ghor. 

Here, if we have the time, strength, and inclination, we may 
enter Boone Avenue, which has been known for many years, 
and visit what is practically a new part of the Cave, though 
there are signs of its having been explored long ago by unknown 
visitors. 

A well-worn path leads us to a chasm, down whose slope 
we pick our way to a lower level known on Stephen Bishop's 
old map as Miriam Avenue. A narrow and winding way, 
called Pinson's Pass, leads into a long and noble avenue which 
is named Martel Avenue, in honor of the famous cave -hunter 
of France, Edward A. Martel. The point where we enter it 
is called, from its peculiar shape. Bottle Hall. Were we to 
go to the left in Martel Avenue we should find the path rugged 
and difficult, but would be rewarded by seeing Helictite Hall, 
where abound those curious twisted and distorted stalactites 
known as helictites. Several small passages branch off from 
the avenue, which finally terminates in Galloway's Dome. 

The right-hand portion of Martel Avenue brings us soon 
to the bed of a brook that must at times be deeply covered 



62 HOVEY'S HAND-BOOK OF THE 

by flowing water. Ripple marks of sand alternate with flat 
masses of jet-black polished flint. Knots of wood, roots of 
corn-stalks, and other objects indicate that they were recently 
swept down hither from the surface. Two adjacent domes 
are named for the intrepid guide, John M. Nelson, but beyond 
them some hardy pioneer had inscribed on a rock the date 1848. 
Mr. Norman A. Parrish came as far as this in 1904, but the 
distinction of availing himself of footholds over a risky lime- 
stone slip and crossing where others had turned back belongs 
to Mr. B. F. Einbigler, already mentioned as having descended 
the l^laelstrom. For him the great overhanging dome is 
named, while a still grander one about a hundred yards beyond 
was named by him "Edna Dome" for his sister, who subse- 
quently visited it. Instead of narrowing to an apex, as most 
domes do, Edna Dome broadens at the top, seeming to open 
into a cross-cavern. This conjecture remains to be verified 
by some climber. 

Edward Hawkins scaled the wall of the pit underneath 
Einbigler' s Dome, May 15, 1907, being fohowed by Einbigler, 
Bransford, and at another visit by Mr. H. M. Pinson, who 
took along the head-light of an automobile for illumination. 
This searchlight was still there on the occasion of my own 
visit, on the 18th of June, 1907, a month afterward, in com- 
pany with William Bransford and Frank Barry, guides. Passing 
through Hawkins' Way and scaling a wall at its end, we were 
on the level floor of a dome sixty feet in diameter and from 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet high. A tall arched 
gateway opened from this into a second dome of equal size; 
and through similar gateways we entered in succession five 
vast domes arranged as a sigmoidal group. From the fifth 
a window opens into an irregular room, where a downfall of 
rocks blocks further progress. In this fifth dome also a water- 
fall leaps from the apex to the floor, where it vanishes into 
a chasm. The majestic walls rise in horizontal tiers, each tier 
about ten feet in thickness and fringed by beautiful stalactites. 



MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY 63 

The mighty masonry ascends in narrowing circles till the 
powerful searchlight barely enables us to discern the oval 
white tablet forming the apex, girt by onyx pendants. Verti- 
cally the walls are richly corrugated from top to bottom. 
The entire series of five united domes is four times the 
magnitude of Gorin's Dome. Ages on ages were needed 
for the chemical and mechanical action whereby this sur- 
prising cathedral was carved in silence broken only by the 
wild, pattering waterfall or the heavier cataract. Let me 
anew express my obligation to the Mammoth Cave manage- 
ment for having marked their appreciation of my long-con- 
tinued and enthusiastic interest in their wonderful cavern 
by naming, with the approval of the discoverer and the guides, 
this remarkable group of domes "Hovey's Cathedral." 

A glance at the map will show that Kaemper and Bishop 
went beyond what has just been described, and found two 
domes, to one of which Mr. Kaemper gave the name of a German 
lady, calling it "Gerta's Grotto," and the other he named 
"Creighton's Dome," for an early and otherwise unknown 
explorer, whose footprints were found there, and who left 
his name carved on the rocks. 

In conclusion, let it again be stated that the aim of this hand- 
book is mainly to help the visitor to understand those routes 
over which guides ordinarily conduct parties. The known 
avenues and minor passageways, if placed end to end, would 
exceed one hundred and fifty miles by a conservative estimate. 
Sixty-nine pits and thirty-nine domes, counting only those of 
great magnitude, are known and located on the survey of 1908, 
besides many lateral enlargements, after the style of Wright's 
Rotunda and the Chief City. Yet we dare not say that this 
immense cavern has been completely explored. Those most 
familiar with its surprising dimensions think it possible that 
resolute men, beginning where others have left off, might find as 
much more new territory as has already been described in the vast 
subterranean realm known as the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. 




rm 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 612 324 7 



6061 OS 030 



